Inference on Inequality of Opportunity under Complex Household Survey Framework

Music City Center 

As society increasingly prioritizes equity, inequality of opportunity (IOP) has gained significance. IOP arises when desirable outcomes are unequally distributed due to circumstances beyond an individual's control rather than personal effort. Existing measures of absolute and relative IOP often assume simple random sampling and rely on inequality metrics that ignore survey structure. This study proposes using the Gini index to estimate relative IOP under a complex household survey framework. Additionally, we introduce sequential sampling, an economical approach that optimizes sample size while minimizing estimation error. We analyze the asymptotic properties of this strategy without assuming a specific population distribution, construct confidence intervals for relative IOP, and illustrate our findings using data from India's National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO).

Inequality

Opportunity

Gini Index

Household Survey

Sample Size

Sequential Estimation 

Government Statistics Section